SLIPPERY BANANAS, PSYCHOPATHIC NIGHT OWLS, BACON TO CURE NOSEBLEEDS: THE IG NOBEL PRIZE RESULTS
by Hazed
While the Star was on its break last week, the results were announced for the 2014 Ig Nobel prizes. Awarded annually to scientific research that “makes you laugh, then makes you think”, this year’s winners are the usually collection of wacky results which, if you dig deeper, do have a serious intention.
Highlights from this year’s winners:
- The physics prize went to a Japanese team who measured the amount of friction between a shoe and a banana skin, and between the skin and the floor, when its stepped on.
- The psychology prize was awarded to Australian scientists who amassed evidence that night owls (like me) are, on average, more self-admiring, manipulative and psychopathic than morning larks. Hmmm.
- In biology, the prize went to a Czech scientist who observed that dogs prefer to align their body axis to the Earth’s north-south geomagnetic field lines when they defecate and urinate.
- For the medicine prize we discover one more thing that bacon can do: US scientists came up with a method of treating “uncontrollable” nosebleeds by packing the nose with strips of cured pork. Mmmm… bacon…
There are many more amusing prizes, involving ugly art, cats, reindeer and much more. Read about the winners of the Ig Nobels here.
